Sandra A. Fuchs: Reinventing Murrine from Austria to Italy
Since 2014 Sandra Fuchs has worked exclusively as an independent glass artist creating objects that move the viewer as much with content as the time-consuming and complex manufacturing process required to make them. Combining her kilnformed murrine with the centuries old tradition of Muranese glassblowing, she produces artwork that is unique in the world.
“By incorporating many individual components, I want to create pieces of art that have an impact on the beholder in two ways. First, an impression of the entire image communicates as a homogeneous artifact with the beholder. Second, the reflection of every single detail of the object invites the viewer to pause, inquire, and discover something new.”
Fuchs lives and works in Mautern at the Danube, a small town located within the Wachau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Austria. The island of Murano, Italy, serves as temporary home and studio whenever blown glass is required in her work.
Traversing her own percorso di vetroor glass path, Fuchs has explored a vast range of techniques including coldworking, fusing, flameworking, and glassblowing. She trained in glass schools such as the Technical College of Glass for Design and Craft, Kramsach, Tyrol, Austria; Abate Zanetti, Scuola del Vetro, and Murano Glass Academy, Murano, Italy; and Cam Ocagi, The Glass Furnace, Istanbul, Turkey. Fuchs’ artistic approach and style evolved and advanced with each master class she completed.
Highlights of 2017 included Fuchs’ exhibitions during The Venice Glass Week, September 10 – 17, 2017, at Museo Casa Goldoni, Venice, and an exhibition and demo for Davide Penso’s Murano Glass Meeting. She was also selected as Discovery Artist and exhibited her Flames series at TRESOR Basel 2017. Seeing the reaction of viewers to the work was vital to her growth as an artist. “I only began exhibiting glass in 2015, and am really happy how quickly people have noticed and connected with the work.”
In her second U.S. exhibition, Gallery Sikabonyi represented Fuchs’ work in Sarasota, Florida, from January 18 – 21, 2018. People attending the Glass Art Society Convention in Murano, Il Percorso Di Vetro – The Glass Path, can see her work at Ex-Chiesa di Santa Chiara from May 16 – 19, 2018. It will be on display again during Venice Glass Week at Davide Penso Art Studio, Murano, from September 9 – 16, 2018.